After a 2-1 start to the season, we were 2-2 in week number two. Michigan and Ohio State easily covered large spreads, results I was very confident about. Both programs have become adept at bludgeoning lesser foes. I called for an outright upset for Fresno State over Minnesota. The Bulldogs were close but they fell and Duke comfortably knocked off Northwestern in Evanston for my two losses. That leaves me with a record of 4-3 after two weeks.

The games involving Big Ten squads this week: Kent State at Penn State (-34.5), Rutgers (+3) at Kansas, Ball State at Indiana (-14), Temple at Maryland (-15.5), Troy at Nebraska (-10), BYU at Wisconsin (-22), SMU at Michigan (-35.5), Miami (OH) at Minnesota (-14.5), South Florida vs. Illinois (+9.5), Missouri at Purdue (+7), Northern Iowa at Iowa, Akron at Northwestern (-21), Ohio State (-14) vs. TCU (in Arlington).

Ohio State (-14) vs. TCU – 8:00 on ABC

I know the Buckeyes have not faced a significant challenge to this point. However, they have played a pair of P5 programs and have hammered both of them. In my mind, that makes their 2-0 slightly more significant than many others out there. The offense has been nothing short of overwhelming: amassing 721 yards against the Beavers and an effortless 579 yards against the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. While Oregon State’s offense managed nearly 400 yards and caused a bit of mild concern over the OSU defense, Rutgers only gained 134 yards and the Buckeyes had things on cruise control for the entirety of the second half. To say Ohio State could have won by 70 is not an exaggeration. I think the Buckeyes have an outstanding quarterback in Dwayne Haskins and his ability to open up the vertical passing game is a game-changer for the Scarlet and Gray. The running game is still very potent, even without the threat of great mobility from the quarterback. TCU is a very capable opponent and they are far better than Oregon State or Rutgers but this game is not being contested in Fort Worth and I have no doubt a decent chunk of the crowd will be Ohio State fans, making this far more of a neutral site than say, Auburn versus Washington was. The Horned Frogs have a terrific coach in Gary Patterson but I was not overly impressed with their play against SMU this past weekend. The Mustangs had virtually no passing game but they still managed some offense and I think the Horned Frogs defense will really struggle with the speed of the Ohio State skill players and the precision of Haskins. While I believe TCU is capable of keeping this game close for a bit and it won’t be a complete laugher, I am confident in Ohio State as the play here. Take the Buckeyes at -14.

Missouri (-7) at Purdue – 7:30 on BTN

Purdue has a very difficult beginning to the schedule. It was one of the primary reasons I chose the Boilermakers to go under their season win total. They dropped a very entertaining contest to Northwestern but had to feel at least pretty good about their squad, particularly freshman Rondale Moore. However, Northwestern laid an egg in week two against Duke and then the Boilers lost by a point to Eastern Michigan. I know the weather was bad and that certainly contributed to some of the sloppiness but Purdue surrendered 347 passing yards to the Eagles in the 20-19 defeat. That came after a poor defensive showing for much of the game against the Wildcats of Northwestern (a team that was completely shut down by Duke on Saturday). Meanwhile, the Missouri Tigers have a 3-0 start on their minds after blowing out Wyoming last week. Drew Lock is one of the best quarterbacks in the country and the Tigers have an excellent receiving corps. Lock threw for nearly 400 yards against the Cowboys and the weather on Saturday in Indiana is expected to be much more tolerable for a passing offense. That is not a recipe for success for the Purdue pass defense. I know Purdue blasted Missouri early last season in Columbia but a lot has changed since then. I fully expect Purdue to play better than they did last Saturday and Jeff Brohm will have the Boilermakers well prepared. However, I think the Missouri passing attack will eventually overwhelm the Purdue secondary and lead the Tigers to a comfortable cover.

BYU at Wisconsin (-22) – 3:30 on ABC

Prior to the season, all of the talk about the Brigham Young Cougars centered around potential hot-seat discussions for the head coach and whether or not BYU could return to some sort of relevance anytime soon. Week one saw them visit Tucson and put a hurting on Khalil Tate and the Arizona Wildcats and many quickly changed their tune on the Cougars. After week two, Arizona has shown us that they might just be really bad and BYU was outgained by 99 yards in a close home loss to California. I think the Cougars are better than expected but this is not a good matchup for them. Wisconsin has their running game in mid-season form and Jonathan Taylor looks every bit as good as any other back in the country. The Badgers offensive line can demoralize opponents and the Wisconsin defense is going to be too much for BYU’s offense. The Cougars are not particularly strong on that side of the ball and I’d be surprised if they surpassed 14 points. That means they would need to hold the Badgers around 35 or less and I don’t see that happening. Take the Badgers and the points as the Big Ten’s divisional favorites (Ohio State and Wisconsin) continue to separate themselves from the pack.